The Register's Editorial: A world where children are safe

2:03 AM,
Jun. 15, 2013

Wellwishers line the streets in Dayton as motorcade of bikers, emergency personnel and others proceeds through Dayton after a memorial services for Kathlynn Shepard of Dayton on Thursday at Southeast Webster-Grand Middle School Gymnasium in Boxholm, Iowa.

Written by

The Register?s Editorial Board

People in the small community of Dayton in northwest Iowa gathered this week to share their grief over the death of a child. The memorial service for 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard was an occasion for closure following an ordeal that began with her disappearance, the desperate yet hopeful search effort and finally the numbing reality when her body was found in the Des Moines River.

Kathlynn and a younger schoolmate were abducted as they walked home after being dropped off by their school bus. The abductor was later identified as Michael James Klunder of nearby Stratford. The younger girl ...